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SNK New Project

Info:Plot about Hacker that wants to get all Neo Geo characters data to become invincible God. In the last boss fight he has a moveset based in lot of characters from the game
Iori,Geese,Nakoruru can activate special that transform them in EX ver like Wild Iori,Geese Nightmare,Rera
Ralph,Clark,Athena and Kensu wear costumes from origin series
Game still in early development and graphic will have cell shading

guess they are going cel shading for affordable and easier to market graphics

I dunno. crossovers always lack a lot of favorites. it's like multiple series, but master of none, and its less well rounded than KOF cause NGBC covers a lot more franchises and over the top with the types of characters that participate.

hey that's awesome that Yuki and Ai return!! though they should add Shin and Kei from Card Fighters Clash too.

As for the "leaks" I don't trust a list of a SNK crossover game without Kim Kaphwan.

Kim is pretty much the 2nd most popular FF character or at least has the 2nd highest fanbase, he's never missed a KOF title, been in every FF game other than FF3, he made a cameo appearance in MOTW and he never misses a crossover.

That's like not including Iori, yes Kim is that big a deal. He was also very enjoyable to play in NGBC. The roster is as trash as MVCI, if the roster is that bad the game will flop. The roster looks fanmade and fans are the worst when it comes to stuff like this, wish lists for XV and NGBC2 are always a retarded mess.

For example

Iori,Geese,Nakoruru can activate special that transform them in EX ver like Wild Iori,Geese Nightmare,Rera

As for the "leaks" I don't trust a list of a SNK crossover game without Kim Kaphwan.

That's like not including Iori, yes Kim is that big a deal. He was also very enjoyable to play in NGBC. The roster is as trash as MVCI, if the roster is that bad the game will flop. The roster looks fanmade and fans are the worst when it comes to stuff like this, wish lists for XV and NGBC2 are always a retarded mess.

MVCI's roster was trully and abomination and NGBC2'S rostar is 20x better, Kim's popularity is undeniable but he's still not the face of hes own franchise.
And btw no BORIKI 1??.

Game is still 2 vs 2, this time with assists. Your assist's special is chosen on the select screen like in MVC. You can get "happy birthdayed" too so don't spam your assist. Every character has a "V-Trigger" like in SFV that powers them up temporarily. Kyo gets EX specials, Iori goes orochi, Geese gets his boss moves, Haohmaru enters concentaration one state and Genjuro enters rage mode.

Game uses an anime aesthetic instead of the realistic style from XIV. A good comparison would be that J Stars game on PS3 and PS Vita. Story mode is similar to SFV and MVC Infinite in terms of style and presentation.

Expect an announcement at Playstation Experience and a release some time around Summer 2018. There will be a DLC season pass with four characters and six costumes because SNK saw how successful this strategy was for other FG devs. I do not know
who these characters are or who the costumse are for.

For character stuff, Kyo is based on the Ash saga in both design and gameplay. He has both the fireball and rekka, including the new rekka chains from XIV. Instead of RED Kick he has the rising kick.

Iori uses the XII design but has his usual fire gameplay.

Ryo's design takes some elements from the 3D Fatal Fury Wild Ambition by giving him some stubble and removing his gi top.

Robert is the same as the last game but with an XIV styled goatee.

K' and Kula have new designs that make them look older, K' in particular wears a black trenchcoat and his intro has him throwing away a cigarette.

Mizuchi looks very different with scars and veins that seem to imply that the orochi power is overwhelming his body. His "V-Trigger" turns him into his boss form, with an animation that looks like he's in a lot of pain.

Goodman's playable version is closer to a puppet character like SFV's Menat, with the ability to position his ghost on screen and pressure with it.

The new boss is the leader of a terrorist hacking group trying to overthrow the world governments by obtaining the powers and techniques of all the Neo Geo characters. In the final boss fight he wears a suit that looks like a robotic gargoyle and uses various signature specials from the cast. He can also use techniques that kidnap your other character to prevent you from tagging, and when he kills one of your characters he brainwashes them to be his own personal assist. His ultimate is a transforming special like Yuki's, where he becomes the giant scythe wielding demon from Metal Slug 5.

In the story mode, Dr. Brown from World Heroes gathers the Neo Geo characters to assist Yuki and Ai's organization in the battle against the hacker's group, who have recruited a fallen Goodman and his corporation to their cause.

That's all you're getting for now. Be patient and wait for more details like good little boys and girls.

Game is still 2 vs 2, this time with assists. Your assist's special is chosen on the select screen like in MVC. You can get "happy birthdayed" too so don't spam your assist. Every character has a "V-Trigger" like in SFV that powers them up temporarily. Kyo gets EX specials, Iori goes orochi, Geese gets his boss moves, Haohmaru enters concentaration one state and Genjuro enters rage mode.

Game uses an anime aesthetic instead of the realistic style from XIV. A good comparison would be that J Stars game on PS3 and PS Vita. Story mode is similar to SFV and MVC Infinite in terms of style and presentation.

Expect an announcement at Playstation Experience and a release some time around Summer 2018. There will be a DLC season pass with four characters and six costumes because SNK saw how successful this strategy was for other FG devs. I do not know
who these characters are or who the costumse are for.

For character stuff, Kyo is based on the Ash saga in both design and gameplay. He has both the fireball and rekka, including the new rekka chains from XIV. Instead of RED Kick he has the rising kick.

Iori uses the XII design but has his usual fire gameplay.

Ryo's design takes some elements from the 3D Fatal Fury Wild Ambition by giving him some stubble and removing his gi top.

Robert is the same as the last game but with an XIV styled goatee.

K' and Kula have new designs that make them look older, K' in particular wears a black trenchcoat and his intro has him throwing away a cigarette.

Mizuchi looks very different with scars and veins that seem to imply that the orochi power is overwhelming his body. His "V-Trigger" turns him into his boss form, with an animation that looks like he's in a lot of pain.

Goodman's playable version is closer to a puppet character like SFV's Menat, with the ability to position his ghost on screen and pressure with it.

The new boss is the leader of a terrorist hacking group trying to overthrow the world governments by obtaining the powers and techniques of all the Neo Geo characters. In the final boss fight he wears a suit that looks like a robotic gargoyle and uses various signature specials from the cast. He can also use techniques that kidnap your other character to prevent you from tagging, and when he kills one of your characters he brainwashes them to be his own personal assist. His ultimate is a transforming special like Yuki's, where he becomes the giant scythe wielding demon from Metal Slug 5.

In the story mode, Dr. Brown from World Heroes gathers the Neo Geo characters to assist Yuki and Ai's organization in the battle against the hacker's group, who have recruited a fallen Goodman and his corporation to their cause.

That's all you're getting for now. Be patient and wait for more details like good little boys and girls.

Discard this, only info is these in this topic. Someone is taking advantage and giving wrong info. Please, game is in very early development.

Hello again /neog/, I trust that you've all been good little boys and girls like I asked, yes? Then have some new info.

I see that the leaker from SRK is calling my info false. Based on what he posted, I believe that his source is legitimate, but I don't know why he's trying to discredit me. I guess that his info is outdated or he wasn't given all of it. I didn't want to have to do this, but I will test this leaker...if he is as informed as he claims to be, he should know the meaning of the phrase "Neo Shock Engine" and what it refers to.

First of all, I see a lot of anons asking about Mars People. I haven't seen this character in any playable capacity. Same for Athena, Kensou and General Morden. These characters could be the four DLC that I wasn't told about, or they could be scrapped in the planning stages. I'd also like to note that I haven't seen these "alluring woman" or "serious otaku" characters either. I'm not denying that they might exist, but they aren't in the build I've seen.

To elaborate on K' and Kula's new designs, K' is dressed similar to Liquid Snake, with a long black coat and shirtless beneath it. He still has the leather chaps, the glasses, the pendant, the gloves, everything else is the same. Kula wears a pink leather hoodie with black sleeves and a pendant similar to K's in the shape of her heart sigil. She pulls the hood down in her win pose to reveal that her hair is cut short.

Yuki can transform into characters from Shock Troopers and Sengoku now.

The music is tied to characters instead of stages like the first game. When a character dies it changes themes to the other character's theme just like in MVC. You'll probably be happy with the OST, it has a lot of variety in styles, some songs are heavy metal and some are techno dub-step style but there's also orchestra and traditional style music for the SamSho and Last Blade characters. If you're a longtime SNK fan, you can probably anticipate what characters get what themes.

Stages are based on iconic backgrounds from classic Neo Geo games, like the Esaka station stage from KoF95 and Ukyo's seaside stage from SamSho 2. The arena-styled boss stages from the first game return for the sub bosses, just in case you were wondering. The final boss's stage is similar to Apocalypse stage from the MVC series with all of the cut characters trapped in stasis pods in the BG and each of them reacting differently, ie Mudman is snoozing, Cyber Woo is banging his fists trying to escape, Hotaru is scared and crying, et cetera. I should note that Mars People is there, but obviously this doesn't rule him out from being playable.

And just so we're clear, I have no relation to JohnXuandou or any of the anons who leaked XIV shit. I'm just a guy who knows other guys.

I don't know a lot about the story beyond what I've already shared. If you've played SFV, you should know what to expect. Cutscenes that lead into fights that you have to win to see more cutscenes. I haven't seen much of it, so it's probably still in development.

As for the season pass, I was told that they saw how well those sell for companies like Capcom, NetherRealm Studios and Namco-Banbai, so they saw it as a profitable venture.

Yes, 2d with teams of two characters, tagging and assists. It's almost identical to the first game, but with assists.

Game is still 2 vs 2, this time with assists. Your assist's special is chosen on the select screen like in MVC. You can get "happy birthdayed" too so don't spam your assist. Every character has a "V-Trigger" like in SFV that powers them up temporarily. Kyo gets EX specials, Iori goes orochi, Geese gets his boss moves, Haohmaru enters concentaration one state and Genjuro enters rage mode.

Game uses an anime aesthetic instead of the realistic style from XIV. A good comparison would be that J Stars game on PS3 and PS Vita. Story mode is similar to SFV and MVC Infinite in terms of style and presentation.

Expect an announcement at Playstation Experience and a release some time around Summer 2018. There will be a DLC season pass with four characters and six costumes because SNK saw how successful this strategy was for other FG devs. I do not know
who these characters are or who the costumse are for.

For character stuff, Kyo is based on the Ash saga in both design and gameplay. He has both the fireball and rekka, including the new rekka chains from XIV. Instead of RED Kick he has the rising kick.

Iori uses the XII design but has his usual fire gameplay.

Ryo's design takes some elements from the 3D Fatal Fury Wild Ambition by giving him some stubble and removing his gi top.

Robert is the same as the last game but with an XIV styled goatee.

K' and Kula have new designs that make them look older, K' in particular wears a black trenchcoat and his intro has him throwing away a cigarette.

Mizuchi looks very different with scars and veins that seem to imply that the orochi power is overwhelming his body. His "V-Trigger" turns him into his boss form, with an animation that looks like he's in a lot of pain.

Goodman's playable version is closer to a puppet character like SFV's Menat, with the ability to position his ghost on screen and pressure with it.

The new boss is the leader of a terrorist hacking group trying to overthrow the world governments by obtaining the powers and techniques of all the Neo Geo characters. In the final boss fight he wears a suit that looks like a robotic gargoyle and uses various signature specials from the cast. He can also use techniques that kidnap your other character to prevent you from tagging, and when he kills one of your characters he brainwashes them to be his own personal assist. His ultimate is a transforming special like Yuki's, where he becomes the giant scythe wielding demon from Metal Slug 5.

In the story mode, Dr. Brown from World Heroes gathers the Neo Geo characters to assist Yuki and Ai's organization in the battle against the hacker's group, who have recruited a fallen Goodman and his corporation to their cause.

That's all you're getting for now. Be patient and wait for more details like good little boys and girls.

Were calling it v trigger like sfv and not HD activation? lol hope all this info is true but who knows

Game is still 2 vs 2, this time with assists. Your assist's special is chosen on the select screen like in MVC. You can get "happy birthdayed" too so don't spam your assist. Every character has a "V-Trigger" like in SFV that powers them up temporarily. Kyo gets EX specials, Iori goes orochi, Geese gets his boss moves, Haohmaru enters concentaration one state and Genjuro enters rage mode.

Game uses an anime aesthetic instead of the realistic style from XIV. A good comparison would be that J Stars game on PS3 and PS Vita. Story mode is similar to SFV and MVC Infinite in terms of style and presentation.

Expect an announcement at Playstation Experience and a release some time around Summer 2018. There will be a DLC season pass with four characters and six costumes because SNK saw how successful this strategy was for other FG devs. I do not know
who these characters are or who the costumse are for.

For character stuff, Kyo is based on the Ash saga in both design and gameplay. He has both the fireball and rekka, including the new rekka chains from XIV. Instead of RED Kick he has the rising kick.

Iori uses the XII design but has his usual fire gameplay.

Ryo's design takes some elements from the 3D Fatal Fury Wild Ambition by giving him some stubble and removing his gi top.

Robert is the same as the last game but with an XIV styled goatee.

K' and Kula have new designs that make them look older, K' in particular wears a black trenchcoat and his intro has him throwing away a cigarette.

Mizuchi looks very different with scars and veins that seem to imply that the orochi power is overwhelming his body. His "V-Trigger" turns him into his boss form, with an animation that looks like he's in a lot of pain.

Goodman's playable version is closer to a puppet character like SFV's Menat, with the ability to position his ghost on screen and pressure with it.

The new boss is the leader of a terrorist hacking group trying to overthrow the world governments by obtaining the powers and techniques of all the Neo Geo characters. In the final boss fight he wears a suit that looks like a robotic gargoyle and uses various signature specials from the cast. He can also use techniques that kidnap your other character to prevent you from tagging, and when he kills one of your characters he brainwashes them to be his own personal assist. His ultimate is a transforming special like Yuki's, where he becomes the giant scythe wielding demon from Metal Slug 5.

In the story mode, Dr. Brown from World Heroes gathers the Neo Geo characters to assist Yuki and Ai's organization in the battle against the hacker's group, who have recruited a fallen Goodman and his corporation to their cause.

That's all you're getting for now. Be patient and wait for more details like good little boys and girls.

Were calling it v trigger like sfv and not HD activation? lol hope all this info is true but who knows

It would make more sense to call it V-Trigger if they're power up modes rather than combo tools primarily. Iori changing to Orochi Iori for instance changes his character and what he can do, it does not give combo options.

You lack devotion! Enduring hunger and poverty is how you find the way!

What? Haha, I don't need to prove anything to anyone, if it wasn't me giving news about this game development this person wouldn't be trolling with fake info.Let's wait until PSX then,NGBC2 presentation there will be big surprise,even for me.I hope that person doesn't say that presentation got misteriously cancelled later

What? Haha, I don't need to prove anything to anyone, if it wasn't me giving news about this game development this person wouldn't be trolling with fake info.Let's wait until PSX then,NGBC2 presentation there will be big surprise,even for me.I hope that person doesn't say that presentation got misteriously cancelled later

What other info you can share with us? Also what's that Neo Shocking Engine?!

What? Haha, I don't need to prove anything to anyone, if it wasn't me giving news about this game development this person wouldn't be trolling with fake info.Let's wait until PSX then,NGBC2 presentation there will be big surprise,even for me.I hope that person doesn't say that presentation got misteriously cancelled later

What other info you can share with us? Also what's that Neo Shocking Engine?!

Nothing by now. About "Neo Shock Engine" he might be talking about 3D engine that SNK works, but there's no official name for it, just something made up

0

BootyWarriorOne of the few people to play KOF on this site.Joined: November 2015Posts: 330

What? Haha, I don't need to prove anything to anyone, if it wasn't me giving news about this game development this person wouldn't be trolling with fake info.Let's wait until PSX then,NGBC2 presentation there will be big surprise,even for me.I hope that person doesn't say that presentation got misteriously cancelled later

What other info you can share with us? Also what's that Neo Shocking Engine?!

Nothing by now. About "Neo Shock Engine" he might be talking about 3D engine that SNK works, but there's no official name for it, just something made up

I see, you said that the game uses cel shading technique, and the game somehow looks like GGxrd and the new DBZ, which I find it amazing, but the leaker said the game looks like J Stars Victory on PS3 or Vita, can you give us more details about the graphics?!

Pair/Tag Character - Can be either like the implementation of this characters in the named game: Choi with Chang in CVS2, Cait with Sith in Code Chaos, Hisuii with Kohaku in MB, Danny with Demi in the Outfoxies, Jie Mei Hua in Dong Dong Never Dies and Groove-&-Fight's Oume with Otane.
9.) Rose with Zamasu
10.) Dabura and Babidi

Team Character - Can be either like the implementation of this characters in the named game: Captain Commando in MVC2, Doronjo in TVC, Tronbone in MVC2 or Ace Attorney in UMVC3.
19.) Tien - Some specials summons Chiaozu and Launch
20.) Ginew Forces - with The Ginew Forces Plays like (Captain Commando in MVC2 or Doronjo in TVC)
21.) Meta Cooler - Plays like Ultron in MVCi
22.) Roshi - Some specials summons Turtle and Oolong
23.) Napa - Summon numerous Saibamen (like Gargos Ki or Tronbone in MVC2)
24.) Bojack

Different Playstyle I want in SFV
1.) Xianyu and Jianyu - as a pair fights like Choi and Chang in CVS2.
2.) Delta Red Rep!! - Can play like Captain Commando. (Team/Ginew/Turtles)
3.) Yun and Yang - play like how rival school or Capcom Fighting Jam works you can switch characters after or before round in matches.
4.) I want Lee or a Jacky Chan Rep to be a character that plays tricky on block and overheads like Iron Fist in UMVC3.

Also, some characters have assist exclusive moves such as Jill's herb from MVC2 and Morrigan's meter buff from 3. I guess that this is so that there isn't much overlap considering how many chars there are that shoot projectiles, do uppercuts and do charging attacks. For example, one of Fuuma's assists places a seal of fire on the screen, if the opponent touches it they get burned into a crumple state that lets you continue your combo. Also, Kula can put a shield of ice on her partner that makes them temporarily immune to chip damage, but breaks after a few hits.

This is VERY accurate to their new looks, so kudos to the artist! However, there are two details that are incorrect. K's collar is slightly larger/higher than that, and Kula's hair is MUCH shorter. She's almost bald, so I guess a good example would be Charlize Theron's character from Mad Max: Fury Road. There is a story justification for this, but I'd rather not spoil.

I cannot wait for you guys to see this beautiful game that SNK has been hard at work on. I don't want to say too much more, because I want you to see it all with your own eyes and I think my sources might be getting savy soon, since this information has spread throughout the internet. But I am not opposed to answering specific gameplay-related questions.

Kula's reason to cut her hair

Early in the story, the hacker's group is shown capturing various Neo Geo fighters,
including the cut characters. Eventually,
they go after K' and his team, but they put up a fight. Just as they're about to be finished off,
Maxima jumps in to save them, but since he's a cyborg the hacker is able to crack into his body and force him to self destruct, killing him.
K' grabs Kula and they run for it. Kula is traumatized so she spends a long time shut in,
while K' joins up with Yuki and Ai to fight the hackers. A bit later, K' is confronted by Goodman, who mentions that he remembers K',with the scene strongly implying that he is Igniz under an alias. Just as Goodman is about to finish K', an icicle strikes him from the back, and Kula walks in to join K' with her new look and a new resolve. You then control K' and Kula fighting Goodman.

Unlike MVC, you cannot call assists in the middle of an attack. You must be in a state where you can act normally.

As mentioned before by other leakers, they are an animesque style. If you've seen the Dragon Ball, Naruto, etc type of games, you know what you're in for. The game looks absolutely nothing like XIV in any capacity.

This leaker is right on the money, "Neo Shock Engine" is the tentative name some are using for SNK's new 3D engine. I don't believe that it will be the final name for the engine, however. Of course, KOFXIV does not use this engine. It seems this leaker does have more credibility than I had previously assumed, which makes me question why he's attempting to discredit me so hard. Perhaps he's trying to prevent me from spoiling too much, or costing us our sources?

The cast are all in a playable state except for the final boss and the boss versions of certain characters, although specific move properties and balance are of course tentative. The story mode cuts off at a certain point, after only a couple of hours. There are no character endings for arcade mode currently, it just ends on a screen saying the game is in development.

The boss difficulty will vary for most players, but I would put Goodman and the new final boss on par with the likes of 94 Rugal, 96 Goenitz, 2001 Igniz, 2003 Magaki, especially the last boss who has various cheap tricks including some moves that break the fourth wall to mess with the interface. He can "hack" the game to alter life values, super bar, even altering your button controls or the properties of your moves, or tthe visuals/sound.

Most of the character abilities are pretty standard if you're familiar with classic SNK, but I suppose I can elaborate on the "V-Trigger" style mechanic. For instance, Mizuchi's playable form starts draining his meter and his partner's life to transform him into his boss form, so you temporarily get to control an SNK boss.

Cel shading is definitely not the right word for the visuals. It's more that the art style resembles anime rather than KOFXIV's realistic style. As I've said, look at the licensed anime games from Namco-Bandai.

King Lion plays identically to the first game. His "V-Trigger" gives him new techniques.

There are redesigns, but most of them are either ones you've seen before such as Kyo and Iori using different looks or are very subtle such as Ryo utilizing elements from Wild Ambition. Captain Kidd has a slightly exaggerated build like Antonov and Robert has his goatee, but very few characters have extreme makeovers like K' and Kula do. The most notable changes are to Yuki, Ai, Andy, and Mizuchi . Yuki and Ai wear tight body suits that resemble the characters from Ton. Andy fights in a new uniform with a classical ninja face mask and scarf. Mizuchi is perhaps the most interesting, in my opinion. His playable form has black hair with a white streak, and he has many lacerations and scars across his body, implying the Orochi power is exceeding his body's limits. During his idle animation, his hair will glow white and he doubles over in pain holding his head. His boss form is the same as it was in the first game. Aside from this, many female characters have more conservative outfits, Mai is dressed as she is in the Chinese port of KOFXIV and Rosa has her mid-drif covered. I can't say for certain if this will be the case in every region.

It's a very, very fast-paced game, on par with Guilty Gear XRD. It controls almost identically to the first game, save for the new mechanics, but it's much more loose and forgiving. Many difficult command inputs are changed to be easier. The game is very easy to pick up and play with your friends, in my opinion, assuming nothing changes.

The build I've played has arcade, story, versus, training and survival modes. That's it. I don't know what else may or may not be coming.

Yes, if you fail at any fight in arcade mode, you can use a continue service, like in most SNK games.

All normally playable characters are selectable in this build, but that may just be for testing purposes. Characters like Mizuchi, Neo Dio, King Lion, Kagami and Goodman have boss forms, but they are unselectable, as is the final boss.

I don't know much about how DLC is going to work, but based on what the other leakers have said I'm going to assume that Athena, Kensou, Mars People and Morden are the four DLC characters, since they don't exist in the build I've played. All I've been told is that there will be a season pass with four DLC characters and six costumes.

I have no idea if the censorship to the female characters will be region based or not, but I have been told that SNK is very aware of the complaints that Western gaming journalists and feminist activists have to their characters, and want desperately to amend their image in the US. That, and the build I've played is in completely translated English. I'm unsure if the censorship will be present in all versions of the game, but I can say with absolute certainty that unless something changes, it will be present in the North American release.

All I do know is that SNK's sales in the United States are abysmal, so it makes perfect sense that they would want to try anything they can to increase their sales. . Through my contacts I do know that many overseas developers think about these things often when considering the release of their games in the West.

If I had to make an estimate, I'd say that this is probably the first playable build. It's still very buggy and rough looking. Maybe it's been in this state for about 6 months? I don't know, I'm not a developer.

Training mode is extremely barebones right now. I assume, and hope, it will get more features later.

I don't want to spoil too many of them, but I want to reiterate that the stages are a serious love later to the history of SNK, instead of the random science fiction stuff in the first game. If you're a longtime fan, you WILL recognize many of them. I had a huge smile on my face every time I saw one of them for the first time.

The character select screen is similar to the first game with characters across from their counterparts, Yuki to Ai, Kyo to Iori, K' to Kula, so on and so forh. The boss characters are grouped at the bottom, and on either side of them are four empty boxes for the season pass characters.

3

BootyWarriorOne of the few people to play KOF on this site.Joined: November 2015Posts: 330

New batch of alleged rumors for NGBC2, I'm copying and pasting just as they were posted

SNK are very aware of their poor reputation in the US, and they're extremely desperate to fix that. Putting Geese in XIV was a bid to throw the American fans a bone, since statistically he's known to be particularly popular in the states. Needless to say, that didn't work very well, because the game still drastically underperformed in America. They did some market research and have decided to tailor most of NGBC2's design and motifs around American tastes. This was a factor in deciding what characters wouldn't return, particularly Shermie and Hotaru, since they're not convinced Americans will like sexy or cute female characters. These characters will likely not be removed from KoF, but since NGBC2 is being developed with the American market in mind, they decided to scrap them here.

I was told that Kula's drastic change in appearance and personality is part of an attempt to rebrand the character as their "mascot" for the American region. They found that a lot of American gamers seemed to really enjoy cyberpunk elements and androgynous/masculine female characters so they based Kula's redesign around those elements and gave her a less cute, more aggressive personality to fit her new look. I was told that they were inspired to do this because of the success of similar dark reboots like the Devil May Cry one from Capcom. They're hoping that they can use the new Kula to promote the SNK brand in the US, and if she's popular they might consider altering Kula in the main KOF games to match, but only for the US version. I asked why they wouldn't just create a new character, and was told that they considered it but they wanted to do something new with a fan favorite and take advantage of their existing popularity.

Additionally, they altered or outright removed a lot of the sexual elements of other characters due to the reception that popular games like SFV and MKX had for cleaning up their female characters. They first thought of this when Capcom altered the camera angles on R. Mika and Cammy. Allegedly, they had no clue that American audiences were sensitive to these types of things until very recently. I was assured that these changes were not being made with eSports in mind, but rather because they've seen the various controversies over sexualized female characters from Western gamers and the outcry from the mainstream gaming media. They believe that they'll reach a bigger audience this way, because their core fans will support them no matter what, and with these changes the average American gamer demographic will be more likely to jump onboard.

I really, really hope this is just someone talking out of their asses because is incredibly confusing.

There's no way they're just gonna change Kula into some punk bitch just to pander to American audience, which isn't even their main market. If they do go through with all those rumors they're just gonna kill a franchise and go bankrupt for the final time